The Fun Bus

We've seen it all over: Driving here and there, over by the mall, parked in front of homes. It's big, it's green and it's on wheels. It's The Fun Bus! Today, we had the opportunity to go to a party featuring The Fun Bus. And, boy was it, uh, fun! All of the kids at Thomas's birthday party piled into The Fun Bus for an hour of stretching, tumbling, balancing, punching, jumping and hopping through an obstacle course. The kids even took multiple turns sliding down a slide that was attached to the back of the bus at the end of the hour. Whoever knew a bus could be so awesome?!



Sliding out of The Fun Bus

A Visit to the Shore

Today, we loaded up the minivan and drove for a few hours down to the Jersey Shore. It was an overcast day, but we decided to head down anyway because it was a day when we would be able to see Jaci, Scott and Tiffany since everyone was off from work. We ended up hanging out in the beach house all day since it drizzled a little here and there and, when asked if they wanted to go to the beach, both Claire and Ryan said, "No." That is, until we were packing up the car to go home when they both said, "But we didn't go to the beach yet!" Needless to say, the kids were busy having a great time!* We hope to get back down again before the summer ends.

Debbie and Tiffany putting a "boing" (hair wrap) in Claire's hair.

*Of course, I just realized that I hardly took any pictures today. :(

NJ State Fair

Every summer, we head up to the New Jersey State Fair (Horse and Farm Show). This year was no exception. We packed up the car and set out early this morning with Grandma and Grandpa. We met Aunt Celina, Uncle Ray, Ryan and Peter there. Claire immediately wanted to ride on all of the rides (She takes after me and wants to go on everything!), but we had to wait until 12:00 for the rides to open. So we walked around, checked out all of the delicious, but not very nutritious, fair food - corn dogs, hot dogs, giant turkey legs, chicken on a stick, BBQ, cotton candy, funnel cakes, fried anything, etc., then went to see the petting zoo. The big kids rode on ponies which they absolutely loved! We also saw flowers (Grandma's pick), saw a little show with fruits and veggies, listened to a few country songs performed live (Grandpa's pick), then finally went to the rides. The big kids had lots of fun riding the rides. After a few hours, our time at the fair was over. It was soooooo hot (in the 90s) and the many drinks we purchased weren't even cooling us off, so it was time to head home to the a/c.

Kids Say the Darndest Things!

Claire says some really funny things!

The other day, I overheard this conversation...

Daddy: What's the difference between Henry and Izzy? [our male and female cats]
Claire: Balls.

My husband and I were laughing hysterically! I tried to get her to explain and the only thing I really understood was a reference to dry cat food (balls) and wet cat food. Or, maybe I just accepted that answer because I didn't want to address the anatomical differences between the cats.

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Last week, we went to church for a funeral service. I was worried that Claire wouldn't make it through the whole service. We walked in, sat down in a pew, then Claire said, "Mommy, I want to go up and play the drums on the stage." I looked up and saw that there was, indeed, a complete drum set up on the altar. Thankfully, she didn't push the issue when I explained that we weren't allowed to play the drums. She kept herself busy drawing pictures on a pad of post it notes I had in my purse. She even drew one of the "lady" aka the minister, which she gave to her after the service. Everyone was very impressed at how well Claire behaved at church.

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It's also really entertaining to listen to Claire singing along to Laurie Berkner (more on her later) or playing with her dolls using our trusty baby monitor. Inevitably in every conversation, at least one of the dolls (Barbies, Disney Princesses, etc.) sounds exactly like me! : )

OBX

We just returned from 7 days in OBX (aka the Outer Banks in North Carolina). It was a wonderful week! We stayed at a great house with 5 bedrooms, 6 bathrooms, pool, rec room and an elevator. It was very comfortable for the 9 of us. While I wanted to spend every day lounging on the beach with my feet in the sand and swimming in the salty sea, the kids had other plans. They wanted to spend every minute in the pool jumping, swimming and splashing around. We
did manage to go to the beach twice, as a group, but in all honesty, schlepping beach chairs, umbrellas, towels, sand toys, a cooler and other beach necessities 2300 ft. was a bit of a hassle. Next time we will definitely plan early so we can get beach front accommodations!


Our days were spent relaxing and enjoying being together. We also ate some amazing meals: Homemade pizza, coxinha, lasagne, shrimp scampi linguine, grilled chicken and crab, mango and avocado salad.

We ventured out to a local racetrack where the daddies and kids raced go karts around a small track. A stop at Dippin' Dots cooled everyone down afterwards.


It was an awesome vacation with my fun, fabulous family! I love them sooooooo much!

All our Bags are Packed...

We're ready to go to OBX! We are so excited to be leaving for our first big family vacation with Grandma, Grandpa, Aunt C., Uncle R., Ryan and Peter. We rented what looks like a super-fantastic house complete with lots of bedrooms, a pool, a jacuzzi and an elevator! After packing the car, I think that elevator is going to come in handy - the kitchen is on the third floor!

This is going to be a fabulous family vacation! We are all ready to spend time together and R-E-L-A-X!!!!!!

Frog Falls

We've been having a fun summer! Lots of playgrounds and afternoons at the lake.

Today we went to an awesome little water park to celebrate Claire's friend Dylan's third birthday. Claire had a blast riding around the lazy river and swimming in the pool. She wanted to go down the water slides, but she didn't meet the height requirement (Maybe next year!). Claire wanted to stay in the water all day, but we were able to convince her to get out briefly for pizza and then cake a little while later. All in all, it was a fantastic day!!!

Frog Falls Water Park

Claire riding around the lazy river with Zach.



Claire waiting patiently for cake. Dylan's parents hired my cousin, Jaci, to make
Dylan's birthday cake. It was not only adorable, but it was delicious as well!